Ken Milne, MD, is chief of emergency medicine and chief of staff at South Huron Hospital, Ontario, Canada. He is on the Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine faculty and is creator of the knowledge translation project the Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine.
I’ve found occasional success with an even more aggressive “modification” of the Valsalva maneuver.
The goal of the maneuver is to raise pressure on the carotid baroreceptors, right? So if the “regular” Valsalva maneuver hasn’t worked, I’ve had (usually young, athletic) patients) lie prone on the gurney, hang their head over the end of that gurney so they are at a 90 degree angle head-down, take a deep breath and hold it for 15 seconds or so. It seems to work better.
Nice article. I want to add more.
I believe A normal heart beats 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm) but when you have SVT, your heart rate may be sustained way above 100 bpm, sometimes up to 180 or 200bpm, for several minutes or hours. You may feel that you have a racing heartbeat, which can be described as palpitations.
2 Responses to “Modified Valsalva Maneuver Better Way to Manage Supraventricular Tachycardia”
June 19, 2016
Chuck PilcherI’ve found occasional success with an even more aggressive “modification” of the Valsalva maneuver.
The goal of the maneuver is to raise pressure on the carotid baroreceptors, right? So if the “regular” Valsalva maneuver hasn’t worked, I’ve had (usually young, athletic) patients) lie prone on the gurney, hang their head over the end of that gurney so they are at a 90 degree angle head-down, take a deep breath and hold it for 15 seconds or so. It seems to work better.
May 30, 2019
joeNice article. I want to add more.
I believe A normal heart beats 60 to 100 beats per minute (bpm) but when you have SVT, your heart rate may be sustained way above 100 bpm, sometimes up to 180 or 200bpm, for several minutes or hours. You may feel that you have a racing heartbeat, which can be described as palpitations.